Will WA Finally Get Permanent Standard Time? This New Proposed Bill Says Yes
I’ve made the joke in the past about how Daylight Saving Time is a cruel trick by the 9 Volt Battery companies to sell more batteries. If you think about it, smoke detectors are the only things that use 9V’s anymore. The common practice is to change your batteries twice a year, at the time of year you change your clocks. Considering that’s not even 6 months one way or another, that never made sense to me. Plus, if you didn’t change your batteries at that time of year, what would happen besides your house burning down an hour sooner? But it was just a joke (in all seriousness, check your smoke detectors; it could save your property and life).
We’ve had several petitions to eliminate the time change, with none doing much. Here is the problem: most of us in Washington want to be on the “SAVING” time (the time frame we spend from March to November when the days are longer and most of the year is spent). The problem is that it is not the “normal” or STANDARD time.
We as a state cannot change and STAY at DST without federal government approval. Last time, the federal government said sure (I believe this was in 2019) if Oregon and California changed too. Last I heard all 3 states were on board with the change.
Since then, the issue has not made any traction in the government and obviously has not been approved by Congress. Fine, we’ll do it ourselves!
Washington Can Stop Changing Clocks Without Government Approval
It might not be what a majority of us want. Still, at least it’ll get us out of the stress, fatigue, and confusion that the schedule change can put on our bodies. 13 Washington senators are co-sponsoring a bill that will allow Washington State to stay at the current time, the STANDARD time. Something that we do not need approval for from the Federal Government to do.
If the bill passes the state legislature (which, I don’t see why it wouldn’t), the permanent time would go into effect on November 4th of 2024, at the end of DST. This would add Washington to Hawaii and Arizona as the states who do not change the clocks, and possibly hurt the 9V Battery industry (joking).
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Gallery Credit: Anuradha Varanasi
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